In a recent poll by market-research company NDP Group, one in three adults said they were looking to cut down or eliminate gluten from their diets. Those are the highest numbers since NDP began asking the question in 2009. In fact, in 2012, TIME magazine put the gluten-free movement at #2 on its top 10 list of food trends.

Current estimates put the number of Americans with celiac disease (diagnosed or not) at about 3 million. Other studies indicate that as many as many as one in 16 Americans may have a less-severe sensitivity to gluten that can trigger gastrointestinal symptoms.

For people with celiac disease or gluten-sensitivity, avoiding gluten is not merely beneficial, it is necessary for good health. For everyone else, though, avoiding gluten is unnecessary, provides questionable benefit, and can increase food costs substantially.

One thing to remember, is that junk food is junk food, whether is contains gluten or not. Many people who do not have celiac disease or gluten-sensitivity, and who feel better after cutting gluten out of their diet, are really benefiting simply because they have eliminated junk foods and/or breaded, fried foods from their diet, not because they have a problem eating gluten.

On the other hand, many others who do not have celiac disease or gluten-sensitivity, and who simply replace junky, processed foods with gluten-free versions are gaining little or no benefit, and are, in fact, spending money unnecessarily. That's because gluten-free foods usually cost more than their gluten-containing counterparts.

How much more? When researchers from Dalhousie Medical School at Dalhousie University in Canada compared prices for 56 standard grocery items with similar gluten-free items, they found that the gluten-free products cost about 2½ times more than the gluten-containing versions.

With more and more food manufacturers producing more and more gluten-free products, the gluten-free market in the United States is projected to grow from $4.2 billion last year to $6.6 billion by 2017.

But that still doesn't add up to the NPD Group’s finding that 29% of Americans are trying to avoid gluten. The numbers suggest that many consumers are staying away from gluten simply because it’s trendy to do so.

It is likely true that many people are following gluten-free diets unnecessarily, but it is also true that many more people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity remain undiagnosed, and the exact nature of those conditions needs to be better understood to know who will fully benefit from a gluten-free diet. In the meantime, look for the gluten-free market to grow, and look for much of that growth to be driven by people without an official diagnosis that actually requires a gluten-free diet.

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• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 05/10/2013 - Many people struggle daily with skin problems. Everyone wants clear, healthy, radiant skin, but only few are willing to go the extra mile to achieve this. Out of the people who combine a healthy diet with skin care products for clearer skin, there are still some that just can't get it to clear up.

Recent studies are showing that many skin issues such as blemishes, eczema, or acne are caused by food allergies, and the top allergen in question? Gluten!

Gluten can be found in roughly eighty percent of the proteins which grains contain. It is found in every day foods such as pizza, pasta, cereal, and even beer. Luckily in today's modern world we have many alternative foods, which are labeled gluten-free. Only a fraction of our population suffers a severe gluten-triggered autoimmune condition known as celiac disease. Many others are just intolerant or sensitive.

The connection between gluten and our skin is its allergic response. Anytime our bodies have any sort of allergy the natural response is always inflammation. Inflammation can show itself in a number of ways on the skin. A few examples of allergic response are acne, eczema, or dermatitis. Along with the skin allergy, people with gluten sensitivity may experience some of many digestive issues that prevent our body from absorbing essential nutrients.

It can be hard to diagnose a gluten allergy or sensitivity and many people have to remove gluten from their diet to see if their condition improves. If they do improve, they must continue to live a gluten free lifestyle to maintain healthy, radiant skin. More and more grocery stores are beginning to carry gluten free products, making it a little easier for those with a gluten intolerance. So maybe if you can't figure out why your skin looks the way it looks, it might be time to try a gluten elimination diet!

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• Open Original Shared Link

More and more brick and mortar stores are fighting against a practice called 'showrooming,' where consumers visit a store to view an item in person before buying it online. Charging a fee to visitors who do not buy anything is one new strategy in that fight.

Adelaidenow.com.au reports that Brisbane-based Celiac Supplies, a gluten-free specialty food store in Australia, recently announced that it will charge customers $5 for browsing. The money will be refunded when the customers purchase an item.

Open Original Shared Link, the store-owner, who gave her name only as Georgina, says that she implemented the fee to curb “showrooming.” Her store has seen a "high volume of people who use this store as a reference and then purchase goods elsewhere," according to a note, a photo of which appeared on Reddit.com

Georgina's note adds that the showroomers she complains about "are unaware our prices are almost the same as the other stores plus we have products simply not available anywhere else.”

The note closes by saying that the $5 fee “is in line with many other clothing, shoe, and electronic stores" that also face the same problem.

Georgina told the website that she spent hours giving advice to as many as 60 people per week, who would go into the store, ask questions, and then leave without buying anything.

“I’ve had a gut full of working and not getting paid,” Georgina was quoted as saying. “I’m not here to dispense a charity service for Coles and Woolworths to make more money.”

That list now now appears to include children's toys. Take Hasbro's clay-like product, Play-Doh, for example. Wheat flour is a major ingredient in Play-Doh, and in several other similar products.

However, as more an more kids go gluten-free, more and more parents are pushing schools to eliminate gluten from school grounds. That often starts with lunches and snacks, but has expanded to include arts and crafts supplies.

Hasbro has been slow to launch a gluten-free version of Play-Doh, and that has led to a scramble to fill the void left by the elimination of gluten-containing products.

A number of companies have stepped up to offer hypo-allergenic alternatives. One such company, Soy-Yer Dough, makes a gluten-free product intended to replace Play-Doh. Last year, the company says it sold 50,000 containers of Soy-Yer Dough. That's 25 to 40 times what the company sold when it first began five years ago.

Another company, Great White Bottling, also makes a Play-Doh-like product, called Gluten-Free Wonder Dough. That company says that sales have increased 67% in 2012, with the majority of orders coming from schools and day-care centers. In fact, the gluten-free version of Wonder Dough was so popular, the company has stopped making the original version, which contained wheat flour.

Yet another gluten-free version off sculpting clay is Max’s Mud, a gluten-free sculpting dough sold at Whole Foods and independent toy stores in the Pacific Northwest. Max's Mud is the first crafts product certified gluten-free by the Gluten Intolerance Group, an organization that certifies gluten-free products.

Other children's arts and crafts products that are now appearing without gluten include finger paints and stickers.

With the market for gluten-free foods alone growing 18% from 2011 to hit $12 billion in 2012, it's not surprising that non-food and children's toy products are jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon. Look for more companies to offer gluten-free formulations of familiar children's products as the gluten-free market continues to grow.

Celiac.com 04/09/2013 - A legislator in Missouri, Rep. Vicky Englund is pushing a bill that requires manufacturers and wholesalers of hygiene products like shampoo and conditioner to clearly state on the product label whether or not the product contains gluten.

According to CBS St. Louis, Rep. Englund was moved to act after hearing from a constituent who suffers from gluten intolerance.

The woman had got gluten "out of her diet completely, but was still very ill and almost died,” Englund said. After considerable detective work, the woman eventually discovered that her shampoo contained gluten.

A study by the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center and another by George Washington University show that many commercial health and beauty products contain gluten. The latter study, done in 2012 showed that people gluten sensitivity could react negative reactions to ingredients such as the wheat germ oil often used to produce Vitamin E.

Englund’s bill is currently pending before the state’s House Health Care Policy Committee. What do you think? Is this a good idea? Let us know what you think about mandating gluten status on shampoo and conditioner labels by sharing your comments below.

A recent federal civil rights settlement between the Department of Justice and Lesley University that arose from Lesley's failure to provide gluten-free food shows that traditional one-style-fits-all dining options are no longer an ­option for our institutions of higher learning.

The settlement requires Lesley to “continually provide” students with gluten-free dining options and pay $50,000 in damages to ensure the university is in compliance with a federal law that protects people with disabilities.

As a result, more and more universities are scrambling to make safe food alternatives available to students with severe food allergies, including those with celiac disease, as required by the under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

This adjustment includes gluten-free food offerings, and colleges and universities in Massachusetts are among the first to attempt the adjustment. Their approaches differ slightly, but the goal is to provide a safe, reliable dining experience to students with food allergies.

The University of Massachusetts Boston and Boston University have created gluten-free zones in cafeterias and food courts, while others are taking a more individual approach. Tufts and Harvard University, for example, are having nutritionists and dining hall staff work with students to figure out what prepared foods can and cannot be eaten and ordering specialty items as necessary.

Tufts' plan also includes establishing a dedicated freezer-refrigerator unit in its two dining halls that is stocked with gluten-free foods. The units are kept locked, and only students with special dietary needs are given keys

UMass Amherst publishes dining hall menus online, and identifies gluten-free offerings with a special icon. The school also has an extensive handout on what foods to avoid and whom to contact if students need gluten-free food.

About a year ago, UMass Boston created a gluten-free zone in its food court, with a dedicated refrigerator, microwave, and toaster to minimize the risk of contamination.

Look for the trend to continue as more and more colleges deal with the new legal realities of feeding students who have food allergies.

Sources:

• Open Original Shared Link
• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 03/06/2013 - The hallmark of a healthy gluten-free diet is a grocery cart filled with mostly unprocessed, single-ingredient foods such as fresh produce, nuts, and meat. This is the easiest way to avoid gluten, as well as the healthiest way to eat. When you do venture into the central aisles of the grocery store, look for gluten warning signs on packaging to help you identify foods that contain gluten.

Looking for those warning signs is more important than ever because companies are catching on to the growing popularity of gluten-free diets and many are labeling their products gluten-free. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) does not regulate how or when the designation of gluten-free can be added to food labels. This clouds the decision-making process for people with gluten intolerance that rely on gluten warning signs on packaging to guide them. Without USDA regulation, even products labeled gluten-free may still be processed on equipment that also processes gluten. While this is not a problem for people eating gluten-free as a dietary choice, it can cause issues for people who are gluten intolerant.

Ingredient Keywords

Look for warning signs at three places on the ingredient label. The first is underneath the ingredients list, where common allergens such as soy and milk are listed in bold. If wheat is listed there, the product contains gluten.

The second place to look is the ingredients list itself. The following words may be signs of gluten due to its nature or to cross-contamination:

• Wheat
• Malt
• Wheat starch
• Barley
• Oats
• Soy sauce (made with wheat)

Even seemingly innocuous products may still contain gluten, so it's important to look at all product labels. For example, yogurt and other dairy products sometimes have gluten-containing thickening agents, many sauces and soups contain gluten, and beer is made with barley hops. 

The third place to look for gluten warning signs on packaging is at the bottom of the ingredients list. In bold, the packaging will declare whether or not the food was processed on equipment that also processes common allergens, including wheat. Cross-contamination can still cause flare-ups, so these foods should be avoided.

Safest Foods

The best way to avoid gluten is to stick to unprocessed, fresh produce and meat. With grains and processed foods, the best way to stay safe generally is to opt for minimally processed foods with few ingredients, or specialized foods. Strategies for gluten-free shopping include: 

• Foods in the health aisle or in a natural food store are most often accurately marked as gluten-free.
• Cook what you can at home and take the mystery out of ingredients. Gluten-free bread, for example, can be made at home using the flour of your choice.
• Do research before shopping - it can save you time and trouble in the long run.

While reading food labels may seem intimidating at first, after a few shopping trips, you will be a pro at identifying problem foods and cooking gluten-free, while still eating a healthy range of foods.

In the entry, a person without celiac disease describes how, after years of unexplained health problems, a chance conversation on an internet forum led him to try a gluten-exclusion diet.

He claims he saw dramatic results: “Within a week of excluding gluten and lactose from my diet, all my symptoms had dramatically improved in just the same way as when I previously starved myself.”

After accidentally eating gluten the symptoms returned “within hours.” Such dramatic relief of symptoms led him to seek out what he calls “proper diagnosis.”

This, in turn, led him to Kamran Rostami, whose account of the condition supplements the patient’s story. Rostami says that the patient, like others had "negative immunoallergy tests to wheat and negative coeliac serology; normal endoscopy and biopsy; symptoms that can overlap with coeliac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and wheat allergy.” Symptoms resolved on a gluten-free diet. Since there are no biomarkers, gluten sensitivity is the ultimate diagnosis of exclusion.

However, these facts, along with the lack of a disease mechanism have left some clinicians unconvinced.

Some, like Luca Elli are calling for aspects of gluten sensitivity clarified before doctors start “treating” people for this new “disease” (Open Original Shared Link).

Elli asks some logical questions, such as "Is gluten sensitivity different from irritable bowel syndrome, or is it simply a variant that benefits from a common therapeutic approach?"

To get an answer, many clinicians are looking to published literature (Open Original Shared Link). For example, a few randomized trials suggest that non-celiac gluten-sensitivity is a real condition, affecting 6% of nearly 6000 people tested in a Maryland clinic.

A multi-center trial is currently recruiting people without celiac disease, but with gluten sensitivity for a challenge with gluten or placebo.

Meanwhile, clinicians are advising that patients who have had celiac disease excluded through blood tests and duodenal biopsy be told that they may suffer from a newly recognized clinical condition which is not yet fully understood.

In related news, a letter published this week by David Unsworth and colleagues describes an “explosion of requests” for serological testing since 2007, particularly from primary care physicians (doi:10.1136/bmj.e8120). They note that NICE guidance in 2009 has done little to reduce the requests.

They also point out that, as the number of people being tested has risen, the rates of confirmed celiac disease has fallen to just over 1%, which is no better than rates achieved by random screening.

They call for more targeted testing, limited to groups in whom detection rates are highest: children with failure to thrive, family history, or type 1 diabetes, and adults attending diabetes and gastroenterology clinics.

However, such advice would seem to ignore cases like those described in the Patient Journey, cases where people with negative blood tests and biopsies benefit from a gluten-free diet.

What do you think? Is non-celiac gluten-sensitivity a real condition? Do you or anyone you know come up negative on blood tests and biopsies, but suffer from gluten-sensitivity? How should doctors proceed? Share your comments below.

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• Open Original Shared Link

Recently, researchers have paid more attention to sourdough lactic acid bacteria as a way to improve the therapeutic benefits of gluten-free bread and baked goods for people on a gluten-free diet due to celiac disease.

A team of researchers recently set out to assess use of sourdough lactic acid bacteria as a cell factory for delivering functional biomolecules and food ingredients in gluten free bread.

The research team included Elke K Arendt, Alice Moroni and Emanuele Zannini. They are variously affiliated with the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences at University College Cork, Western Road, and the National Food Biotechnology Centre at University College Cork, in Cork, Ireland.

More and more, consumers are demanding higher quality gluten-free bread, clean labels and natural products. Still, replacing gluten in bread presents significant technological challenges due to the low baking performance of gluten free products (gluten-free).

Sourdough has been used since ancient times to improve quality, nutritional properties and shelf life of traditional breads, sourdough fermentation may offer a better solution for commercial production of gluten-free breads.

In a recent issue of Microbial Cell Factories, the research team highlights how sourdough lactic acid bacteria can be an efficient cell factory for delivering functional biomolecules and food ingredients to enhance the quality of gluten free bread.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

At issue is a settlement the DoJ obtained with Lesley University in Massachusetts, which had allegedly violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not adequately accommodating students with food allergies.

Under the settlement agreement with the DoJ, Lesley University will pay $50,000, offer meals that do not contain “egg, wheat, shellfish, fish, soy, peanut, tree-nut products, and other potential allergens," prepare the food in a dedicated area, and to allow students to pre-order their special meals, among other requirements.

In the view of von Spakovsky, the agreement amounts to "extortion" by the the DoJ. He calls the "idea that this is a federal issue, or that the Justice Department should burn its resources investigating food preparation in university dining halls…a complete absurdity."

He goes onto call the DOJ's efforts at Lesley a "dish-hunt [which] exemplifies mindless mission creep and the bloated expansion of the federal nanny state."

What do you think? Do you have children or loved ones with celiac disease, especially of college age? Should celiac disease be considered a disability? Do they deserve gluten-free food options at school? Should the government pressure schools that either can't or won't act on their own? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

Click here to Open Original Shared Link, ridiculing efforts by the federal government to use the Americans with Disabilities Act to pressure colleges to accommodate students with food allergies.

Celiac.com 01/21/2013 - At the end of a long day of class and meetings, Morgan Hembarsky loved to come home to her four roommates eagerly awaiting her to cook their weekly meal together. Immediately when she walked through the door the most important thing to talk about was food, conversation could wait. Was it pasta with marinara and veggies or chicken Parmesan with warm rolls night? "We try to have dinner together at least once a week to catch up," said Hembarsky, a senior at Lehigh University.

The women sat down to a warm meal together and gossiped about their Lehigh University professors' bad jokes and the new romantic comedy in nearby Lehigh Valley theaters. Cooking and chatting: a girl's perfect way to unwind at the end of the day. But days of cooking with her roommates are gone. Early in the fall of 2011 after months of stomach pain, Hembarsky visited a doctor and received the answer to her suffering.

The culprit, celiac disease, which is a condition in which one's body cannot digest gluten and eating it damages the small intestine. Because many of the foods Hembarsky and her friends often used to make contained gluten, like pasta and bread, that meant no more pasta nights with her friends. In October 2011 she gave up foods with gluten, the killer protein found in many grains and flours. Being diagnosed with celiac forced a change to the social calendar. "It's something you learn to live with and you learn what healthy decision you need to make," said Hembarsky. Hembarsky is not alone. For many celiacs in Bethlehem, social opportunities are hindered by dietary restrictions such as not being able to eat a hamburger bun or drink beer at a tailgate because they have gluten. Instead of going out with friends, they cook individualized meals at home. Now with more people being diagnosed as gluten-intolerant or celiac – in fact one out of 133 people in the United States is affected by celiac disease, according to the celiac disease Foundation – the choices of where to buy groceries and whether one should go to a restaurant taking the chance of feeling like a burden are at the forefront of people's minds.

Take Tabitha Echavarria, a senior at Lehigh University, who was diagnosed with celiac last July 1. "The biggest change in my life has been taking charge of my diet," said Echavarria. "I know 100 percent of the ingredients of everything I eat because I most likely made it from scratch. I never eat anything without asking what is in it. " Echavarria said senior year of high school she experienced persistent migraines, numb feet, chest pain and stomach aches – symptoms that other celiacs often suffer as well. After constantly changing her diet hoping to find the trigger to the pain and receiving negative blood tests, she visited every doctor she could find. "The previous year I had cut out bread from my diet ‘cause I knew something was wrong," said Echavarria. "Then eventually I just really couldn't eat ever and went to like every different doctor available to figure it out. " Now on a Friday night when her rugby teammates go out to hibachi or Sal's starving for a delicious meal, Echavarria makes herself dinner beforehand so she can still tag along to the restaurant. Going to meals with friends is no longer about the eating, it's about the company. While Echavarria still goes out to restaurants for the social aspect, other celiacs avoid eating out as much as possible.

Three weeks ago, Andrew Bench was sitting at his desk at King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul Law Firm in Bethlehem, Pa. , with a stomach ache when he decided to stop eating out as much as possible because of the potential cross contamination. He said many restaurants in the Lehigh Valley have cross contamination even though the waiters told him that the kitchens were being careful. Flash back to when he was diagnosed as celiac a year ago. He described the feeling as a concussion mixed with sinus pressure. Cross contamination could result in the same thing, or worse. Bench recommends Tapas on Main on North Side as a safe gluten-free option. Echavarria likes Red Robin for their protein-style burgers and La Lupita for the corn-based options while Hembarsky prefers salads at Bravo and sushi at Asian Bistro.

While restaurants are introducing gluten-free menus, Bench said that one slip-up in the kitchen can mean hours of stomach pain. Echavarria recalled getting sick after ordering eggs, a naturally gluten-free dish, at a restaurant. Later she found out that the eggs had pancake batter in them. Restaurants may not think about the danger to celiacs by adding gluten to a naturally gluten-free food. "I think what I am most looking forward to in the future is restaurant activism," said Echavarria. "I would just like to have the option of eating with my friends knowing I'm not going to get sick or that I'm not annoying the people that work there. "The Lehigh Valley is embracing the gluten-free movement, slowly but surely.

Wegmans, Giant Food and ShopRite have gluten-free aisles that provide a wide range of options. As he was giving granola samples at Wegmans, Calvin Virgillo, operations and sales at The Granola Factory, recognized a need for gluten-free, nut-free granola, which will be available in 2013. "It doesn't matter how good our granolas if there are people who won't buy it because they're gluten free or have a nut allergy," said Virgillo. With increasing options of places to purchase groceries and dine out, the community is recognizing the gap for this niche market of gluten-free consumers. A day will come when gluten-free diners won't have to worry about missing out on social life because of their diets. Until then, Hembarsky must deal with biting into a dry, hard piece of bread and baking her own treats when she wants to socialize with her roommates. "I think bread is the hardest to be gluten-free because it [the gluten-free version] doesn't taste like bread, but a majority of them aren't that great and they come frozen," said Hembarsky. "But everything else, I feel like you don't have to sacrifice at all. "

Celiac.com 01/16/2013 - Scientists are making progress on the creation of a pill that would allow people with celiac disease to safely eat gluten in much the same way that lactase pills allow people with lactose intolerance to eat dairy products without upsetting digestion.

As with lactase, the approach involves the use of an enzyme to break down the gluten that causes celiac symptoms.

When people consume wheat, rye or barley, enzymes in the stomach break down gluten into smaller pieces, called peptides. For most people, these peptides are harmless. But for the 2 million-3 million Americans with celiac disease, the peptides trigger an autoimmune response and painful symptoms.

Currently, the only way for people with celiac disease to avoid the autoimmune response and the accompanying symptoms is to avoid gluten altogether.

However, Justin Siegel, Ingrid Swanson Pultz and colleagues think that an enzyme might be able to further break down the offending peptides in the stomach, thus permitting people with celiac disease to safely eat gluten-containing foods.

Their efforts led to the discovery of a naturally occurring enzyme that has some of the ideal properties for doing so. They then used a computer to modify the enzyme in the laboratory so that it would do the job completely.

The newly engineered enzyme, which they called KumaMax, breaks down more than 95 percent of gluten peptides associated with celiac disease in acidic conditions that mimic the stomach.

Clearly, further research and trials are needed, but these early results make the new enzyme a strong candidate for oral use in the treatment of celiac disease.

What do you think? Would you take spill that allowed your body to safely digest gluten from wheat, barley or rye without any of the symptoms or damage associated with celiac disease? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.

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• Open Original Shared Link